K3 Visa : Learn About Marriage Visa Requirements
-Part One-

The K3 visa, or marriage visa, is available to couples who have already entered into a valid marriage. The purpose of the K3 visa is to allow non-citizen spouses of US citizens to live in the US while waiting for a petition for permanent residence (green card) to be approved. For the marriage to be considered valid, it must:

1. Have been valid at the time it was performed;
2. Be in existence throughout the entire time of the immigration process (not just at the time of the application); and
3. Not have been entered into for immigration purposes.

For a marriage to be valid under the US immigration regulations, it must meet two primary requirements: that the parties were both legally able to marry and that the marriage ceremony was considered legal in the place where it was performed. So, for example, if a previously married person remarries, there must be a divorce and it must be final and valid.

There are situations, such as when the parties to the divorce were not present in the jurisdiction (place) where the divorce was granted, or where only one party was present, that may render the divorce invalid according to US law. Usually, however, a marriage entered into in the United States is valid, unless one of the parties was under the age of consent or there was some other legal problem that made the marriage invalid under US state law. The best determination of whether a US marriage was valid may be made by an attorney that practices law in the state where the marriage took place.

Learn about the other two requirements for obtaining a K3 marriage visa:
existence throughout the immigration process and "not entered into for immigration purposes":

Go on to Part 2-- Marriage Visa, also known as a K3 Visa